Occupy Central
Occupy Central is a civil disobedience movement which began in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014. It calls on thousands of protesters to block roads and paralyse Hong Kong's financial district if the Beijing and Hong Kong governments do not agree to implement universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017 and the Legislative Council elections in 2020 according to "international standards." The movement was initiated by Benny Tai Yiu-ting (戴耀廷), an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, in January 2013.
Umbrella Movement
The Umbrella Movement (Chinese: 雨傘運動; pinyin: yǔsǎn yùndòng) is a loose political movement that was created spontaneously during the Hong Kong protests of 2014. Its name derives from the recognition of the umbrella as a symbol of defiance and resistance against the Hong Kong government, and the united grass-roots objection to the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) of 31 August.
The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.
The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace, groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.
POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 133:
Full coverage of the day’s events on 27-04
Federation to give June 4 vigil a miss
For the first time, the Hong Kong Federation of Students will not attend this year's June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park.
The federation said it could not reach a consensus on whether to attend the event, held annually for the past 26 years and organized by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.
However, student unions will attend the alliance's commemorative events on their own or hold separate activities.
"The federation's standing committee has in the past 10 years decided by a `consensus mechanism,' which means that if there is one member who is not convinced by the other members, then we will not act in the name of the federation," it said yesterday.
It also said that some committee members were dissatisfied with the alliance's protest issues.
But the federation reiterated it will not forget the "historic responsibility" of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student-led pro-democracy protest and will launch its own activities to commemorate it.
Netizens had mixed reactions about the federation's decision.
Jack Rommel wrote on the federation's Facebook page: "I feel sorry that students are not attending in the name of the federation, but I will respect [it]."
Jennifer Cheung said she was "very disappointed" having joined the candlelight vigil since 1989.
Nadia Shao posted: "The splitting strategy of the [Chinese] Communist Party finally succeeded."
Chinese University political analyst Ivan Choy Chi-keung said the decision shows that the federation has compromised with the localism campaign, which is leading the move for student unions of tertiary universities to split from the federation.
"Under the pressure of the recent incidents of withdrawal, the federation needs to compromise with them," Choy said.
The candlelight vigil is a historic activity, he said, and the federation has always attended on stage as one of the founding members of the alliance.
Choy said it is too early to say whether Hong Kong youths do not want to participate in any kind of mainland affairs, even to commemorate Tiananmen.
"We need to consider other factors, such as the number of participants in the candlelight vigil this year," he said.
Voting reform promotions to be hush-hush
The media will be kept guessing in future where events for "Make It Happen" the campaign to win support for political reform will take place to avoid chaotic scenes, the chief secretary said.
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also said she felt helpless when she and other government officials were unable to get off an open-top bus during parades in Kennedy Town, Lok Fu and Tai Po, as some activists had planned in advance to disrupt the campaign before the event. Lam said they had planned to get off the bus to distribute leaflets to the public and explain the political reform proposal.
"But some people already knew where we would appear," Lam said.
"After our evaluation, even if we got off the bus, I believe that we would still not be able to achieve the purpose [of approaching the public directly] as we would be surrounded by protesters and would have no chance to approach members of the public."
Lam said the main consideration in keeping the parades a secret is that the government does not want to create chaos.
"In future, we will continue to reach out but it will probably be without giving the media prior notice," Lam said.
Chaos erupted in Kennedy Town on Saturday as pro-reform and pan-democrat protesters clashed and several arrests were made.
Lam said the government is finding it difficult to gain the support of pan-democratic lawmakers on political reform.
She called on the lawmakers to not deprive Hongkongers of the chance to elect the chief executive via "one person, one vote."
Executive Council member Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, meanwhile, said she believes the Nominating Committee should explain to the public if a popular pan- democratic candidate is barred from running in the 2017 chief executive election.
Exco convener Lam Woon- kwong called on lawmakers who oppose the reform proposal to act cautiously when they decide to veto the government's political reform proposal.
Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing and Undersecretary for Home Affairs Florence Hui Hiu-fai yesterday distributed political reform leaflets in Shau Kei Wan without notifying the media in advance.
Six held as Mong Kok rally turns ugly
Six activists protesting about the political reform proposals were arrested for allegedly obstructing police during a so-called "shopping tour" aimed at disrupting traffic in Mong Kok.
Five officers were slightly injured during the scuffle early yesterday. All those arrested were men.
Shortly after midnight, about 100 protesters who oppose the government's political reform proposal staged a rally near the Sino Centre on Nathan Road.
Some argued with passersby, and about 40 suddenly tried to occupy the road but were stopped by police, resulting in scuffles.
Officers struggled with the protesters and pushed them back to the pavement. However, some activists tried to snatch the officers' batons.
During the scuffle, police used pepper spray on the protesters.
Video footage recorded by pedestrians showed officers subduing some of the activists and pushing them to the ground. The footage also showed several officers carrying a protester to a police van. One protester lay on the ground in a bid to stop the police van from leaving.
After the arrests, a group of protesters gathered outside Mong Kok police station demanding the release of those detained.
But the station's shutters were lowered to prevent the activists from entering and officers with shields were positioned outside.
At about 2am, the activists put rubbish bins and other items on Prince Edward Road West in a bid to disrupt the traffic.
The activists also surrounded a taxi and the vehicle of a TVB news crew.
The police later cleared the rubbish bins and the protesters subsequently dispersed at about 6am.
Five activists were released on bail last night and must report to police next month.
Members of the Hong Kong Federation of Students mark the 1989 crackdown on student protests in Tiananmen Square during a vigil in Victoria Park in 2012. Photo: HKEJ
HKFS to skip June 4 vigil
The Hong Kong Federation of Students has decided not to participate in activities organized by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China to commemorate the June 4 crackdown on student protests in Tiananmen Square.
Instead, it will hold its own activities to mark the event, Ming Pao Daily reported on Tuesday.
Wang Dan, one of the most prominent leaders of the 1989 student movement, said on his Facebook page that the HKFS decision was the kind of news that the central government would love to hear.
Despite HKFS’ withdrawal, student unions at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University said they will continue to take part in the alliance’s events.
The Hong Kong University Students Union said an event will be held inside the campus to commemorate the Tiananmen event. Meanwhile, the student body at Shue Yan University said they are still holding discussions, although there seems no objection to joining the alliance’s annual vigil.
The HKFS stressed that although it has decided not to participate in the event under the name of the federation, it doesn’t mean that they have given up on seeking vindication for the June 4 incident.
Over the past 10 years, the group’s standing committee has made its decisions through a “consensus mechanism, which means that if there is one member who is not convinced by the other members, then we will not act in the name of the federation”, the HKFS said in a statement.
Wang Dan called for the HKFS to rethink its decision, pointing out that no political movement could hope to succeed without the concerted effort of the people.
Scholarism convenor Joshua Wong said the proposed theme of “building a democratic China” could be the reason why HKFS decided to drop out of the annual event.
The student federation should not give up on the campaign to seek justice for the victims and pursue those responsible for the massacre, Wong added.
The candlelight vigil organized by the alliance in Victoria Park has become an annual commemoration of the Tiananmen incident with the HKFS always in attendance as a founding member of the alliance.
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Chief Secretary Carrie Lam joined other officials on a bus tour over the weekend to drum up support for the election package, but the public's response was rather lukewarm. Photo: GovHK
When Beijing stooges, not Hongkongers, are running Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s constitutional development is lurching towards a life-and-death showdown that will decide the fate of the “Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong” principle and the city’s high degree of autonomy.
Prior to the 1997 handover some Hongkongers were convinced to “pocket the Basic Law first” since the constitutional document bears Beijing’s pledges of self-administration and autonomy and there was indeed no better option back then.
Many felt secure that our capitalist economy, lifestyle and freedom could be preserved.
But when the Sino-British talks reached a stalemate, some realized that neither London nor Beijing was trustworthy.
Although the process of drafting the Basic Law was deemed prudential and open and the constitutional principle of the document gained wide endorsement, some doubted whether Beijing would honor its pledges to the fullest extent.
They said if there would be any unfavorable changes after the handover, the loophole would be clauses in Chapter VIII of the Basic Law: The powers of interpretation and amendment of this Law shall be vested in the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Appendices one and two stipulate a three-step process for any change in the electoral method — amendments must be made with 1) the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of the local legislature, 2) the chief executive’s consent and 3) the NPC standing committee’s approval.
Yet the arbitrary 2004 interpretation by the NPC, an ominous sign of the future of our high degree of autonomy, inserted two extra prerequisites — the chief executive reports to the NPC for any amendment and NPC decides if the amendment is needed.
With these alterations, Beijing has grabbed the lead in constitutional development without any input at all from Hongkongers. This is the underlying reason why the 2017 election framework, a child of the five-step process, is designed to substitute “Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong” with something like “Beijing stooges administering Hong Kong”.
There is no denying that the colonial administration was based on a similar pattern as all the governors were handpicked by London, yet why did the society back then choose to live with it? Because people had faith in Britain as it is a genuine democracy. But now, under Beijing’s suzerainty, the writing is already on the wall.
If the Chinese legislature were truly respectful of the Hong Kong people’s sentiment, the first round of public consultation prior to the chief executive’s report should have not been a slapdash one. Sadly the consultation paper was concocted to evade and expel public views in support of civil nomination of CE candidates and Beijing’s directive permeated the entire text.
Members of the government’s constitutional development taskforce headed by the Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor are all locally groomed elites but they have all surrendered in the test of their resolve to guard our autonomy.
Beijing’s definitive tone is already there and local principal officials like Lam know too well that they can only stick to the script.
Dressed in a light-colored suit, Lam unveiled the election proposals at the Legislative Council last Wednesday after a dozen black-clad pan-democrats left the chamber in protest of the fake election plan.
Among those who remained were fair-haired boys in the pro-establishment camp who sat poker-faced throughout the meeting and a few centrists who are used to being loners.
Obviously some are eager to see a communist authoritarian regime take shape in Hong Kong while others, under the same roof, are mourning the death of the “one country, two systems”. Many are still struggling to abandon their convictions and moral values.
I wonder if Hongkongers were given a chance to accept or reject the offer, how would they vote?
As for the pan-democrat lawmakers, they are faced with a voting dilemma.
If they vote down the bill, Beijing and the SAR government surely will renew their effort in tossing them aside, thus making Legco even more dysfunctional. One of the consequences could be delays in plans like building Hong Kong into a renminbi internationalization center.
But should democrats back down and rubber stamp the fake election bill, the decision will weigh very heavily on their conscience.
Coconuts
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